DGAP-News: Alphaform AG: New online shop for customized art

DGAP-News: Alphaform AG / Key word(s): Joint Venture Alphaform AG: New online shop for customized art and design works: Artshapes will be pioneer for high-quality 3D objects 21.10.2013 / 10:01 --------------------------------------------------------------------- Press release New online shop for customized art and design works: Artshapes will be pioneer for high-quality 3D objects - Alphaform and Tiburon announce joint venture - Creation of an online shop for high-quality sculptures and artworks - Professional additive manufacturing by leading prototyping company - New sales channel for renowned artists and designers Feldkirchen, 21.10.2013 - Alphaform AG (WKN 548795), specialist for additive manufacturing, and Tiburon Unternehmensaufbau GmbH - a seed investor specialized in Internet companies - agreed to establish a joint venture for online sales and additive manufacturing of high quality art and design works, even in limited edition. For this purpose, both companies signed on 10th October 2013 a correspondent Joint Venture Agreement. The new company named 'Artshapes' is supposed to operate firstly in the German-speaking region. Further European countries will be added later. Tiburon shareholder Daniel Wild is also CEO of the Ecommerce Alliance AG (WKN A1C9YW), which provides services for the construction, operation and marketing of the Artshapes website. The core of Artshapes will be an online shop in which private persons can buy 3D works of renowned artists and designers. It is the specificity of this shop that the offered items are not yet available, but will be produced by additive technologies just at the moment they are ordered. For this, the buyer/client can choose the size and material according to the specifications given by the artist or designer. The product range includes artworks and accessories as well as small furniture for the living room. Furthermore, architecture students can for example produce their 3D drafts. In contrast to the professional and sophisticated design approach of Artshapes, most of the already existing 3D-printing-online shops mainly focus on semi-professional community offers. The most well-known example for this is the leading New York 3D-printing-marketplace Shapeways (shapeways.com). The processing offered by Artshapes goes far beyond what is commonly known as 3D printing and thus enables the manufacture of high-quality objects from renowned artists and designers. On the whole, the majority shareholder and production partner Alphaform dominates more than 10 professional additive manufacturing methods, from stereo lithography to selective laser sintering. Thereby, more than 40 different materials from plastic to titanium as well as surface treatments - from painting to stabilizing metal coating - can be chosen. Artshapes is not fundamentally a new business for Alphaform. Since many years the company is manufacturing artworks and models for artists, designers, architects or even development departments. Primarily new is the processing via Internet. While shop construction and organisation are in the experienced hands of the partner Ecommerce Alliance AG, the company explores unknown territory in the setting of the artworks by the artists and designers themselves. 'With Artshapes we implement for the first time an almost completely automatized project handling, from object testing through buildability up to production planning, including possible material options. Artists and designers can prove by themselves on their computers, whether their artwork can be build', says Thomas Vetter, CEO of Alphaform AG. 'If it functions trouble-free, we can introduce the processes also in our main business - at first for comparatively simple prototype orders.' The acquisition of artists and designers for Artshapes results from art dealers and art experts out of the business environment of Daniel Wild, for example, the editor of the magazine Artinvestor, Edgard Quadt. Getperformance GmbH, Munich, is responsible for online marketing. 'We previously got in touch with the art scene and attracted considerable interest', Wild reported. In the construction phase, the financing of Artshapes results from 56% by Alphaform and 44% by Tiburon. The break-even should be accomplished after two years, whereat Alphaform gets earnings due to the manufacturing of the objects from the beginning. For the second phase after about one year it is considered to add another investor. Nonetheless, Alphaform will hold a majority of 51% until further. Considerable additional revenues are expected already during the first complete year of operation, which will be consolidated completely by Alphaform. About Alphaform Alphaform AG, based in Feldkirchen near Munich and founded in 1996, is a production company for complex components and products produced in small batches. Alphaform belongs to the European market leaders in prototyping and to the production of series closer prototypes, particularly for the automotive and capital goods industries. The company has a leading position throughout Europe in manufacturing orthopaedic implants and instruments. The shares of Alphaform are listed in the Prime Standard Segment of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (FWB) under the abbreviation ATF. The core competence of Alphaform lies in its extensive application know-how for processes and materials for the additive production of complex prototypes, tools, individual components and small series made of plastic and metal. The company's activity is focused on the orthopaedic and medical technology, automotive, aviation and aerospace industries. The subsidiaries of Alphaform are located in Germany, Finland, Sweden and the UK. About Tiburon Daniel Wild and Tim Schwenke founded Tiburon Unternehmensaufbau GmbH, based in Munich in 2001, as a private associated company. As a seed investor, Tiburon has been engaged within the past 12 years in many companies during their foundation, for example in Xing, lokalisten and trivago. The most important participation in portfolio is the market-listed company Ecommerce Alliance, whose CEO is Daniel Wild. Contact: Dr. Thomas Vetter CEO ALPHAFORM AG Kapellenstra�e 10 85622 Feldkirchen Tel.: +49 89 905002 21 Fax: +49 89 9050021021 e-mail: tvetter@alphaform.de Internet: www.alphaform.de Contact: Daniel Wild Managing Director Tiburon Unternehmensaufbau GmbH Maximilianstr. 36 80539 München Fax: +49 89 2000 464 49 e-mail: info@tiburon.de Internet: www.tiburon-gmbh.de End of Corporate News --------------------------------------------------------------------- 21.10.2013 Dissemination of a Corporate News, transmitted by DGAP - a company of EQS Group AG. The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement. DGAP's Distribution Services include Regulatory Announcements, Financial/Corporate News and Press Releases. Media archive at www.dgap-medientreff.de and www.dgap.de --------------------------------------------------------------------- Language: English Company: Alphaform AG Kapellenstra�e 10 85622 Feldkirchen Germany Phone: +49 (0)89 905002 - 0 Fax: +49 (0)89 905002 - 90 E-mail: ir@alphaform.de Internet: www.alphaform.de ISIN: DE0005487953 WKN: 548795 Listed: Regulierter Markt in Frankfurt (Prime Standard); Freiverkehr in Berlin, Düsseldorf, Hamburg, München, Stuttgart End of News DGAP News-Service --------------------------------------------------------------------- 235363 21.10.2013